A Sultry Love Song. Kianna Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ her hips over the leather seat of the booth’s bench, bumping into Karen. “Let me out.” All the iced tea she’d been drinking was now looking for a new home.

      Karen stood, allowing Joi to scoot out of the booth.

      On her feet now, Joi told the rest of the girls, “I’ll be back.” Then she turned and went off in search of the ladies’ room.

      Within a few minutes, she’d handled her needs, washed up and checked her reflection. As she left the ladies’ room, heading back for her booth, she saw a dark-haired man in a suit coming toward her.

      That can’t be who I think it is.

      Most of the light in the place was coming from the recessed lighting in the ceiling, which made it hard to see clearly. She slowed her steps as she came closer to the man.

      His steps did not slow.

      By the time she realized it really was Marco Alvarez strolling her way, he’d already entered her personal space.

      “Ah, Ms. Lewis. It is you.” His hand was gripped around the handles of a large plastic bag bearing the restaurant’s logo.

      “Hello, Mr. Alvarez. My team and I were just enjoying a meal together. We have a very good rapport with one another.” She drummed her fingertips against her thigh.

      “I gather that, based on all the noise coming from your table.”

      Her eyebrow hitched. Just how long had he been there? And why in the hell had he been listening in on their conversation? She had many questions, but she knew better than to ask them. “I hope we aren’t the reason you’re taking your meal to go.” She gestured to his bag.

      He shook his head, a half smile on his face. “No. I always get my food to go here. I don’t care for the atmosphere half as much as I do the ribs.”

      “I see.” She moved to his right, hoping to walk around him and put an end to their awkward conversation. But before she could make two good steps, he cleared his throat.

      Sensing he was trying to get her attention, she stopped walking, and turned back in his direction. “Yes, Mr. Alvarez?”

      The half smile remained on his handsome, burnished face. “You can call me Marco, you know.”

      As she viewed the appealing shagginess of his slight five o’clock shadow, she shook her head. “I think it’s better if we keep things professional between us, Mr. Alvarez.” She emphasized the title and his last name.

      He scratched his chin with his free hand, as if thinking about something. “No one else who works in the bank calls me Mr. Alvarez.”

      Now it was her turn to smile. “I assure you, Mr. Alvarez, I’m not like anyone who works in your bank.”

      And with that, she turned on her heel and started walking back toward her table.

      * * *

      Watching Joi’s back as she walked away, Marco felt his brow furrow. Had she just dismissed him? He was pretty sure she had, because he hadn’t had a chance to say what was on his mind. He was also pretty sure that he didn’t like her walking away from him that way. If their business relationship was going to work out, she needed to know that.

      With the bag containing his rapidly cooling food in his hand, he strolled across the dining room, in the direction he’d seen her retreat. When he located the corner booth where she was sitting, he stopped beside it.

      Letting the bevy of women see his most dazzling smile, he announced his presence. “Good evening, ladies. Are you enjoying yourselves?”

      A bumper crop of smiles, cooed greetings and appreciative glances were flung his way, which only served to brighten his smile. Women had been responding to him this way since he was a boy of ten, and tonight was no exception.

      He noted that, once again, Joi seemed immune to his charms. She was the only woman at the table whose face didn’t appear welcoming. While her friends were basically batting their eyelashes at him, Joi looked like she was sucking a lemon.

      Finally, she announced, “Ladies, this is Marco Alvarez.”

      That seemed to sober the atmosphere at the table, because all of the women dialed back their overt flirting right away. He wondered what Joi had said to them about him.

      Speaking again, he asked, “Would you mind if I stole Ms. Lewis for a moment?”

      All eyes at the table turned to Joi. He could see her squirming under the scrutiny, and he also saw the rosy color rising into her cheeks.

      Her expression remained flat and unreadable as she said, “Sure, Mr. Alvarez.”

      The woman beside Joi allowed her out of the booth, and once she was on her feet, Marco made a sweeping gesture. “We can step outside. I promise this won’t take long.”

      She said nothing, but walked past him in the direction of the door.

      He took in her attire as he moved behind her. She’d changed from the business suit he’d seen her in at their eventful interview. Now, she wore a figure-hugging sweater dress, in a soft orange color that complemented her skin tone beautifully. The dress reached her ankles, and had long sleeves, but there was no denying the shapely body beneath the garment. Walking behind her made it fairly difficult to avoid staring at her derriere, but he raised his gaze nonetheless.

      Once they were both outside the glass doors of the restaurant, sheltered beneath a black-and-gold awning, she stopped and turned to him. “What is this about, Mr. Alvarez?”

      Unable to hold the words back, he spoke. “You look very nice tonight, Ms. Lewis.”

      She folded her arms across her chest, but kept her expression unreadable. “Thank you, but I hope you didn’t ask me to come out here just to tell me that.”

      He wanted to scoff, but refrained. He sensed that would only make their interactions more unpleasant. “No. This is about the two of us.”

      One of her neatly shaped brows rose.

      He realized she might be getting the wrong impression, so he sought to clarify his statement. “If we’re going to have a good working relationship, I’ll need to know I can trust you.”

      She shifted her weight, and dropped her arms. “I come highly recommended, and I have an impeccable record of getting the job done for my clients.”

      “I know that. But we’re going to have to address our past history, Joi. I’m going to want an explanation of what happened between you and...”

      She put up her hand. “I’d rather not hear his name. And that is a personal matter between him and me, not something that should be brought up between us.”

      “So you’re not going to address it at all?”

      She shrugged. “There’s nothing to address. What happened six years ago has no bearing on my ability to perform the job you’ve contracted me for. Are we done here?”

      He could see her gaze was focused on the restaurant door. Since she wasn’t going СКАЧАТЬ